Eurobasket 2011 is still a couple of weeks away, but that isn’t stopping the Lithuanian national basketball federation from thinking about the future … and they’ve got a partner in speculation in Latvia.
Baltic Course is reporting today that FIBA Europe general secretary Nar Zanolin is seriously considering a bid for the two nations to jointly organize the 2012 U18 European Championship.
You want your future prospect? BiE’s got your prospect right here; BallinEurope’s man in England, Sam Chadwick, today analyzes the recent performance and the near future of Tobias Borg, a 17-year-old who made some waves at this year’s Future Stars International Basketball tournament in the UK and is currently competing for Team Sweden in the FIBA U18 competition currently going on.
Name: Tobias Borg
Country: Sweden
Position: SG
Height: 5’9” (1.82 meters)
Age: 17 (born in November 1993)
I had the pleasure of watching Tobias play at the Future Stars International Basketball Tournament on the 9th of July at Brunel University; I was impressed by how well he shot the ball firstly in the warm-up and then in the game, how well he played denial defence and hustled. He scorched the USA Select team to the tune of 33 points, including seven threes in addition to some emphatic breakaway dunks and steals.
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Congratulations go out this morning to the Lithuania under-18 team, which capped an undefeated romp through the 2010 FIBA U18 European Championship with a 90-61 crushing of Russia in Vilnius. A crowd of 13,000 – the all-time record for a youth game in Europe – contributed their efforts as 13th man.
While not much is expected out of Team Lithuania at the 2010 FIBA World Championship, the youth development – and especially that of the talented 1992-born group – rolls on.
Jonas Valanciunas was named tournament MVP and was joined on the all-tourney squad by his teammate, shooting guard Deividas Pukis.
BallinEurope’s suggestion for 2011, when basketball-insane Lithuania hosts Eurobasket 2011: Just take this team, add Linas Kleiza and go!
Official FIBA writeup follows the break.
Over in France in the U18 European Championship Men, it’ll be France and Serbia duking it out in the finals today after both squads used teamwork to overcome a potentially devastating individual performance.
Agony of defeat: Kanter goes for 32 and 25 in loss
Team France held off Lithuania, 68-63, again allowing the opposition to claw its way back in the fourth quarter yet holding on to seal the victory; in this case, Les Bleus even managed to overcome Jonas Valanciunas’ out-of-his head 37-point, 19-rebound performance.
Serbia, too, survived an insane individual show in beating Team Turkey, 66-61, despite Enes Kanter’s 32-point, 25-rebound in-your-faceness.
The France-Serbia game for all the marbles goes down at 6.45pm CET, but the Turkey-Lithuania game at 4.30 should be well worth it, too, if only to see what Valanciunas and Kanter in a game of can-you-top-this as these players vie for tournament MVP. The stats have Valanciunas at 20.0 points and 11.3 boards per game (good for second and fourth in the categories, respectively), while Kanter leads the competition in RPG at 16.1 and stands fourth in scoring at 16.5.
FIBA briefs follow.
The FIBA U18 European Championship Men is into the semifinal round, and Ball in Europe sponsor BetonBet.com has released a number of odds, lines and proposition bets on today’s elimination games and qualifiers; the following are a few of the odds currently available at the sportsbook website.
Other betting options are available for some games in this round in addition to those listed below; click on the BetonBet.com link at right for further options. Good luck to all!
Low-key Team Lithuania coach Marius Linartas
The FIBA U18 European Championship Men tips off its semifinal round with four teams keeping title hopes alive: Lithuania, Serbia, Turkey, and France. All the teams played the quarterfinals games yesterday, with Turkey pulling off the notable upset over Spain.
Today’s games pit Turkey against Serbia at 6pm CET and Lithuania against France at 8.15pm. FIBA briefs on yesterday’s games follow.
(FIBA Europe) – Lithuania found their shooting touch late in the game to pull away and beat Croatia, 74-55, in the quarterfinals at the U18 European Championship Men 2009 in Metz, France.
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The FIBA U18 European Championship Men has entered the quarterfinal round, with Euroleague/Ball in Europe sponsor SportingBet.com releasing a number of odds and lines on today’s games; the following are the odds and the match handicap (or the good old-fashioned pointspread as they call it in America).
